Engagement is not rocket science – it’s all about people
treating people in the way they would like to be treated
themselves
“Recruit people you would invite round to dinner” was one of many thought
provoking discussion points, raised by Rachel Bell, to over 50 senior HR Directors
gathered at the St Stephen’s Club to hear her insights and experiences in building an
employee culture that really helps power success. Rachel is the founder and CEO of
Shine Communications, this year’s winner of the ‘Sunday Times Best Small Company To
Work For’ award, voted for by employees. Shine itself is one of the most award- winning
and decorated independent agencies in the UK and in addition to this Rachel was the
first woman to be awarded the Sunday Times Best Leader award. She runs 12 other
companies, including 4 incubator firms; she is also involved in two children’s charities.
The topic promised to be of great general interest. Rachel proved to be an animated and
engaging speaker whose clear passion and belief in the philosophy she has adopted
and, more importantly, implemented, was very apparent.
She touched on five themes: Manners; Clarity; Truth; Courage and Emotion.
Manners are a conscious choice but they are accessible to everyone. They can be
transformational in peoples’ attitude to others. They don’t cost money, they don’t require
any training and most importantly, they set the standard. They inspire others to do the
same if that is the norm. Rachel leads by example! When she walks into a room, she
greets everyone and her deliberate intention is to “bring in positive energy and focus on
lifting the room”.
Clarity Rachel was adamant that leaders, who engage with employees and set the
culture, must be clear about what they want. As a leader, you need to be self-serving to
a degree, apportioning your time and energy according to what you want at the end of it.
But you must allocate time to looking after staff. Rachel says there are “hard” tasks in a
diary, for example meetings and producing work to deadlines, but she also diarises time
to connect with her staff. Not in the form of one-to- ones but actual time put aside for
walking the floor and catching up with people personally and informally.
Every leader should have a well-defined plan. It is not rocket science, yet not everyone
does it. Rachel remembered her corporate life before Shine, which she started at 29,
and said she’d seen many examples of CEOs creating a plan but no one knew its
content because it wasn’t openly shared.
A plan is not powerful unless you communicate that plan. It doesn’t matter what size of
team you have, if you lay out the plan and explain how delivery will affect them, it’s
motivating. Achieving goals gives people pride in their role. However, people can’t value
their contribution if they don’t know what their contribution is!
At Shine everybody is involved in delivering part of the business plan. The senior team
define areas of the business that need additional focus and their people are split into
teams and asked to solve problems linked to a particular Key Performance Indicator.
This contribution then follows through into the personal review system and is linked to
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bonuses. Rachel told us that her people find this level of involvement very motivating
because it’s transparent and tangible. It shows them where the business is going and
the challenges it faces and most importantly the value of their input.
Truth Rachel is an engaging and positive person and although her energy is her force
she is not an intimidating character. However she made a point of saying that she never
shies away from giving people difficult or honest feedback. Her belief is that adult-toadult conversations are vital for people to excel and she sees this as her duty. This is
also how honesty becomes part of your corporate culture.
Courage “Be brave” Rachel told us all. Don’t present the person you think others want
you to be. Being you is incredibly important to Rachel. It takes bravery to show your
whole self and she believes that it is OK to say “I don’t know”. To help her get the
company’s views on key issues she will regularly “speed date” them.
We already know how important manners are to the way she runs her businesses. As
well as manners being fundamentally right, they make you approachable and encourage
employees to take you into their confidence about what’s important to them. She is not
afraid to ask them what they would change if they were MD!
She has taken this to a new level with the creation of a “shadow board” which is
comprised of middle managers and is a forum for them to ask questions openly and offer
ideas.
Emotion How a business responds to people in changing emotional circumstances can
define its whole relationship with its employees. People aren’t robots, they have feelings
and experience turmoil. While no business can take on perpetual turmoil, if people go
through difficult times it’s important to be compassionate and help them get back on
track. Hard working employees feel they have paid into what Rachel calls an ‘emotional
bank account’. It can’t be one-way traffic, there needs to be room for people to express
their fears and concerns if you wish them to engage honestly. Do this and your
employees will do the same. This must be driven from the management team and starts
at the top. It’s wonderfully infectious!
Rachel is also an advocate of “recruit people you would invite round to dinner”. A lot of
work has gone into engaging with the third parties they use to recruit and investing time
with them and making sure they understand Shine. Rachel’s teams can articulate who
they want to work with and all apply the “dinner test”.
The Sunday Times award is incredibly important to Rachel as she regards it as just as
important an accolade as her other industry awards. One of her employees commented,
when voting for her, that it is “amazing that years after Rachel started Shine, her values
still exist in Shine”.
Q&A Rachel then took the time to answer some questions from our guests.
One HR Director asked “I am fascinated. You never recruit those people you don’t like or
would not have to dinner. How is this brought to life?” Rachel shared that in her
businesses there are KPIs which are aligned with the strategy for the firm. One of these
is a “Hire the best to be the best”. This is manifested in a shared value that says “hire
those you respect and like”. Other employees hold the bar very high on your behalf.
Hoggett Bowers Executive Search and Interim Management
London: +44 207 964 9100
www.hoggett-bowers.com
Manchester: +44 161 234 0400
They have an active interest as team members so they will select those candidates who
lift the vested values of the business and their team.
“Do you think there is a conflict between good manners and honesty?” Rachel answered
with a resounding “No”. Difficult news is not bad manners. It is just business and not to
deliver bad news when it needs delivering is not honest and de-values your
relationships.
“How do you know all your initiatives in engaging with your staff affect the bottom line?”
Shine has a “dash board” for all KPIs. Rachel said that they know if they are winning
pitches, losing people or retaining them and that is measurement enough. One of the
acid tests in terms of staff engagement, is succession planning. Rachel has been
attempting to step further back from Shine for a while and it has taken time to find and
nurture the right next MD. She concluded that it is a “dark art” to replace yourself and
you know it is progressing when your staff voluntarily tells you that the MD designate is
ready.
“How important are the financial rewards and bonuses versus everything else you have
talked about?” Rachel knows that people come to work because they need to earn. She
joked “Yes I still have to pay them!” She told us that financial rewards were necessary in
order to pay the bills but they are not the driver of people. The values of Shine keep
people there, and keep them striving. Their bonus system is extremely transparent. Each
individual can see, by category, what the highest amount and the lowest amount has
been paid in bonus. They then have a clear picture of where they stand versus the rest
and what they could earn.
Our evening drew to a close with groups of people having animated conversations about
speed dating their colleagues for brainstorming and wondering who should, from middle
management, form their shadow board. With winter approaching fast, Rachel Bell of
Shine shone on a memorable and enjoyable evening.
Hoggett Bowers Executive Search and Interim Management
London: +44 207 964 9100
www.hoggett-bowers.com
Manchester: +44 161 234 0400